Improvement in mechanical movements



J. H. M-CCAMY.'

Improvement in Meehanical Movement.v

Patented'lan. 9

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES H. McoAMY, oF wYTHEvILLE, VIRGINIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN MECHANICAL MOVEMENTS.

Specification forming part yof Letters Patent No. 122,530, dated January 9, 1872.

To ally whom it may concern: i

Be it known that I, JAMES H. MCCAMY, of the town of Wytheville and State oflVirginia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Mechanical Movements, of which the following is a specification:

My invention relates to the combination of Wheels and rac-ks, arrangedtogeth er on an axle, so that by the reciprocating action of the piston they cause the axle to revolve, the object being to do this and to preserve at all times the line of traction direct with the center of resistance; to have the power continually acting at right angles with the line passing through the center of the axle, giving equal power and full leverage to the piston, and thereby obtaining and rendering effectual as a moving force the whole expansive power of the steam; to obviate entirely the dead-points, unavoidable in the use ofthe crank, and enable the machinery to start promptly from' any position; to dispense with the series of connecting-rods and other gearing applicable to engines, simplifying and lessening their cost, and to retain the power lost in the tangential action of the connecting-rod; to place the cylinder in closer proximity to the axle, whereby the point of resista-nce is brought closer to the power exerted, which will greatly shorten the length of engines and lessen the danger of locomotives in passing curves; and also to get the force exerted inthe middle of the axle and render it, if so desired to be, unnecessary to use more than a single cylinder. Otherwise one set of pinions and racks, &c., is put upon either end of the axles of the driving-wheels.

Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal section. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the alleged invention.

X X is a disk, with an opening or slot, y, to receive the axle of the device. A A are pinions, in Figs. 1 and 2, revolved back and forth by the racks B B, which are placed one above and the other below the axle D 011 either side of the disk X X. The racks or journals B B are placed upon the disk X X in the arc of a cycloid described with a wheel whose diameter is equal to the length of the leverage desired to be used, the base of the cycloid being upon a plane drawn through the middle of the slot y and through the center of the axle. The pinions A A are wheels whose diameters are the same as that just referred to, and are revolved in the cycloidal space by cogs or notchespplaced upon their circumferences at proper distances, determined by a mathemati ical rule which will be readily suggested to any These cogs or notches work skilled mechanic. in the racks or journals B B. The pinions A A are revolved as eccentrics, being placed and fastened upon the axle so that the circumfer- -ence of the Wheel at the lower edge is upon the plane of the base of the cycloid at its center of the axle, as above described, and the upper edge on the line of the cycloid at its center or greatest altitude. a. is the cylinder; b, the piston-rod connected to the cross-head c d d, the driving-wheels on the track e c. On

the pinions A A are self-acting cogs or bolts g g, one of which is seen in each figure. These are pressed down by metallic or India-rubber springs h h, which cause them, when they are raised over the inclined plane or half-crescent t' fi by the forward motion of A A by B B, to fall into recesses behind the shoulders j 7'. The racks or journals B B, being on each side of the axle I), cause the Wheels or pinions A A to pass in opposite directions, and this move-v ment causes the self-acting cogs or bolts g g to pass upon the inclined planes or half-crescents i i alternately and to fall into the recesses behind the shoulders jj. The inclined planes c' are kept in position to receive the self-acting cogs or bolts by means of an India-rubber or spiral spring, m, which may be made to work one over the top and the other below the disk X, or within and at each end of the slot y, in which the axle D works. Or it may be desirable and entirely practicable to fasten the inclined planes or half-crescents M' permanently upon and on either side at each end of the disk X. The shoulders j j on each side of the disk X may be multiplied at will, placing them in sections, if desired. A duplicate set of selfacting cogs or bolts is used to work in recesses against shoulders oppositely cut, one for setting the locomotive in a forward motion and the other for reversing it. One of these is seen in the engraving. When one is in use the other is raised up and kept stationary by the crescent O, which works upon a hub that revolves upon the axle, and is controlled by the engineer at will by a chain running over this hub, and

j carried back to a wheel to be placed in the engineers box. There are little spikes placed around this hub, over which the chain Works in order to prevent its Slipping. The racks or journals B B are made cylindrical, and should be of steel, and fastened with a shoulder by means of a screw in the disk X X.

The same letters have reference to oorresp onding parts in each of the figures, l and 2.

To use more than one set of driving-Wheels the same machinery as described is duplicated and extended by means of a connecting-rod from the axle of the first driver to that ofthe second, &c.

I claim as my inventionl. The pinions or Wheels A A, constructed substantially as and for the purposes herein set forth.

2. The racks or journals B Bin the cycloidal arc in combination with the Wheels or pinions, substantially as described.

3. The Wheels or pinions A A, the racks or journals B B, with the self-acting cogs or bolts g g, arranged together substantially and for purposes hereinbefore set forth.

4. The self-acting cogs or bolts g g, as described, to Work in recesses behind shoulders upon the axle.

5. The inclined planes or half-crescents i i, as operating the self-acting cogs or bolts g g, as hereinbefore described.

6. The crescent O, as operating upon and controlling the self-acting cogs or bolts so as to reverse the direction of the movements of the Wheels, as hereinbefore described.

7. The arrangement of the ily-Wheel, in combination with the Wheels and racks, to revolve upon the axle, as shown and described.

JAMES H. MCOAMY.

Witnesses:

W. H. BOLLING, J. T. Scorfr. 

